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Sinn Fein to skip UK inquiry into IRA fugitives

The Associated Press

Updated:
06/08/2014 08:44:52 AM EDT

DUBLIN (AP) — A British lawmaker has criticized Sinn Fein leaders for refusing to answer questions in public about their secret agreement with Britain shielding Irish Republican Army fugitives from arrest.

The Irish nationalist party announced Saturday night that a leading figure, former IRA officer Gerry Kelly, will refuse to testify this week to London-based lawmakers probing the scandal.

Their investigation follows courtroom revelations that Britain promised more than 200 IRA veterans in the Republic of Ireland they would not be arrested for unsolved crimes if they returned to Northern Ireland.

Sinn Fein said it would talk privately to fact-finders, but not publicly to House of Commons investigators.

Committee chairman Laurence Robertson said Sunday that Sinn Fein's refusal to answer questions in public suggested its deal with Britain was not "above board."